However Tall the Mountain, Awista Ayub

I was in jury duty today, and will definitely be tomorrow. I had received a copy of However Tall the Mountain by Awista Ayub in the mail. It is really a total treat that these books continue to show up at my door. Obviously some good some bad but I do read most of them.

I felt compelled to read this book because of the content. The book is about 8 young women who are recruited to play soccer for a small Afghanistan team. They trained and played in America for 6 weeks, some continue, some don't. The story is not only about each girls, it is about the woman, writer, who put this team together. She is from Afghanistan and her family came to the United States when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Ayub, was in college during 9/11 and felt compelled to do something to help the country that she left at a young age as she was feeling out of sorts at home (America) being a person transplanted from Afghanistan.

What these women/girls overcome daily is so completely disconnected from women here. Prior to the Taliban, women were more equal, wore normal everyday clothes and let their hair flow free. Of course, life is very different since the Taliban came into power. The girls in the soccer tournament grew up in war. Bonding together as a team was not so easy. Every day life is not so easy.

I wanted to love the story because I loved was the concept. But, the book was just a light touch over the day to day realities of Afghanistan. An interesting account of the desire and need to have sports for both men and women in any country particularly war torn countries that are attempting to start a new. I just felt that the book could have had a lot more information and a lot more oomph. Although intriguing, the book fell flat with the inspiration it could have created.